BushClan
by xKaharu
Summary: This warrior cat story is different than your usual fanfiction - BushClan is set in a national park in Australia. There the Clan follows a similar code to that in the original series, but has a completely different environment, with both native and introduced plants and animals. Is the Australian bush suitable for feral cats? Can they survive the hot summers? Read more to find out.
1. Allegiences

**Allegiances**

* * *

**BushClan**

**Leader**

Wattlestar- white she-cat with bright yellow eyes

**Deputy**

Redpelt – dark red tom with amber eyes and claimed to have grown up in the desert regions

**Medicine Cat**

Whitefoot – pale brown tabby she-cat with white paws and amber eyes

**Warriors**

Snaketail- brown tabby tom with green eyes (mate: Swanfeather)

Ravenflight – sleek black tom with pale green eyes

Eagleclaw – powerful brown tabby tom with magnificent eye-sight (mate: Dustwing)

Swanfeather – tortoiseshell she-cat with red face markings and golden eyes (mate: Snaketail)

Stonefur – pale grey tom with darker grey flecks and pale green eyes

**Apprentices**

Fernpaw – pale brown tabby tom with dark green eyes

**Kits**

Wrenkit – black she-cat with white paws, underfur and tail-tip with bright blue eyes

Stormkit – dark grey tabby tom with ice-blue eyes

**Queens**

Dustwing – brown-grey she-cat with dark amber eyes (mate: Eagleclaw) (kits: Stormkit, Wrenkit)

**Elders**

Owlfur – very light grey she-cat with blind blue eyes


	2. Chapter 1

A small she-kit stumbled out of the nursery den dug out from the roots of a large dead jarrah tree, permanently charred by an ancient storm. The air inside the den was stuffy and hot in the mid-summer heat, giving the small black kit a headache. A second kit soon emerged from the den, his grey fur matted with sweat.

"Hey Wrenkit," the grey kit whispered to his sister, "I think we should go back to the den. I know the air is very sticky today, but we can't be caught wandering around without a warrior or mother."

Wrenkit, the small black kit grunted. "Stormkit, you worry too much! Since most of the cats are out for a drink at the creek outside of camp or napping in the shade, it isn't very likely we'll be told off. And besides – it's not like we're going to leave camp, right?" Wrenkit encouraged her brother, Stormkit.

The grey kit thought for a moment before opening his mouth. "I guess you're right. But if we get caught, you're the one in trouble." Stormkit shook his head and padded towards a fallen tree and licked the leaves closest to the ground in attempt to collect some moisture.

"Hey, wait up!" Wrenkit unsettled the leafy forest floor as she bounded up to her brother. She was puzzled at why Stormkit was licking the leaves until he shook his head and faced Wrenkit with his tail drooping to the ground.

"No luck, sister. Licking the leaves only made me thirsty – oh how I wonder how caterpillars do it!"

Wrenkit purred and batted at her brother's pale pink nose playfully. "You're not a caterpillar, silly! We're cats, and cats don't eat – or lick – leaves!"

Stormkit wrinkled his nose in detest. "I know that! But since the creek is on the other side of the territory, there's no chance of water. I'm really thirsty, Wrenkit, and my head is all cloudy and I feel a little dizzy." The grey kit's tail drooped until it touched the ground. "I don't want to wake mother either – I'm scared she'll snap at me."

The she-kit sighed. "I am a little thirsty too – it is very warm today. The best thing to do is to sleep in the shade for now, I guess." Wrenkit trudged through the fallen pale orange eucalyptus leaves to lay on a cool, moderately flat stone in the shade. The black kit rested her head on her paws until she heard a cry in the distance – someone was in trouble! Almost forgetting her thirst, she ran up to her brother.

"What was that?" Stormkit thought out loud. The sound was clearly a cat shrieking in pain.

Wrenkit's eyes grew as round as a full moon. "Come on, let's help!" She urged her brother on, but without success.

"Oh I don't know…." The grey kit sighed, twitching the pale tip of his tail. "We really shouldn't leave the camp – not in this weather anyway."

A tom taller than both of the kits entered the clearing of BushClan's camp. He was a large, brown tabby with sharp, piercing eyes. His claws were unsheathed, revealing claws longer than the typical cat. The tom lashed his tail, the black tip darting through the air like an enraged blowfly. The tabby opened his mouth, revealing sharp teeth. "Get back to the nursery with your mother, Dustwing. The sun is too intense for you to be out here!"

Stormkit and Wrenkit had the right to be scared. The large tom was their father, Eagleclaw. Although the two kits loved their father, they both knew that something was wrong and they would only be in Eagleclaw's way. The two young kits darted back to the nursery where their mother was sleeping; agilely dodging shrubs in their path. Their mother, Dustwing, was waiting for them in the nursery with her amber eyes darting from side to side in panic.

"Hide!" Dustwing urged her kits into a smaller room of the den, purposely dug out by Eagleclaw in-case the den were ever to be intruded. Wrenkit was pushed to the back of the small cavity, with Stormkit following. With both kits in the second room in the nursery, there wasn't enough room for either kit to stand. Their mother's dusty brown fur brushed against a stray tree root, tearing a clump of fur out as she foraged around the nursery den. Dustwing returned to the small room and faced the two kits apologetically with a thick fern branch in her mouth. Placing the leafy fern over the kits, making them unseen from the larger part of the den, she whispered to them softly, but abruptly. "I'm sorry, my kits, but you must stay here for now. The time is not safe to be wandering around – not with humans searching the forest. Keep quiet and do not leave the den until I have returned." Dustwing forced a soft, comforting purr. "You will both be fine."

The voice of another she-cat yowled "Dustwing! Have you hidden the kits?"

Stormkit glimpsed flashed of her mother's fur through the gaps in the fern wall. He shifted his eyes to witness a small, white she-cat run frantically around the clearing, awaking napping cats. Stormkit identified the white cat as Wattlestar, the leader of their Clan. A roar of thunder shook the ground, making loose dirt clinging to the ceiling of the den fall off. The two kits scrunched their eyelids closed and crinkled their noses in attempts to decrease the amount of dirt falling into their eyes and nose. "What was that?" The grey kit whispered to his sister.

The rumbling grew louder and closer, then stopped suddenly. "I don't know…." Wrenkit whispered back quietly. An uneasy silence fell among the forest – not even the songs of birds broke the unnatural peace. Both of the kits heard deep, loud and rather blunt voices of some animal and the crunching of dry leaves as the strange animal walked nearer and nearer the two kits.


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's comments:**

Even though I'm doubting myself a little, I'm hoping that this fanfiction will be completed. I've never really finished any story before...but I have plenty of ideas to keep it going. I just need motivation to finish it.

**Replies to reviews:**

Thank you for the reviews! :3

Myra The Shark: Heheh gotta love cliff hangers! ^^

casrules401: Hmm…since I grew up in a massive 87 acre bush, there are definitely no dingos or coyotes. Well, dingos are desert animals and coyotes…I'm pretty certain they don't exist in Australia. :P

* * *

After the sun had set and the night was young, the two kits had both decided it was safe and cautiously tore apart the fern hiding them from the world. A rush of cold air hit Stormkit's face, relieving him from his headache caused by the heat. The night was cloudy, and the only source of light was the muffled glow of the moon behind the clouds. Apart from the crickets chirping in the background and the slight breeze rustling the leaves - the camp was silent.

"It's safe." Stormkit whispered to his sister behind him, his pale nose tilted upwards, trying to catch any unfamiliar scents.

Wrenkit however, with her excellent eyes, had discovered a large and very long animal track in the dirt were leaves didn't cover the ground. There were complicated patterns in the print, and as the black kit sniffed the foot-print curiously, it smelt a little like the charred trunk of the old jarrah tree which stood over the nursery. "Look at this!" The young kit exclaimed to her brother.

"Hush. Keep your voice down." Stormkit whispered to Wrenkit, whom glanced back apologetically. "Who knows if those strange, noisy animals are still here?" Lowering his muzzle to investigate the track, Stormkit jumped back a little as he realised the size of it. "That's one large pawprint…" He said unsurely to himself as he tried to imagine what could have made that track. It couldn't be a kangaroo – their footprints are barely visible and their feet aren't the shape of the footprint Wrenkit had found. There were no animals of that size in the forest as the trees were too close together, even in the clearing where BushClan's camp existed. "I wonder what those strange animals that had made the track look like." Stormkit asked his sister, to lighten the eerie mood.

"I don't know. Maybe it's a fat snake!" Wrenkit joked and purred hysterically. Stormkit just sat down by the 'snake trail' in concern.

"Stormkit! Wrenkit!" A voice yelled out from the other side of the clearing. The voice was rough and deep, the voice of Eagleclaw. "Are you okay?"

Wrenkit was the first to reply. "We're fine!" She yowled cheerily and she bounded over to the voice with Stormkit at her tail.

As Wrenkit and Stormkit approached Eagleclaw, the massive tom licked both of their heads. "It's okay, you two. The animals were some humans, searching the bush for us. Luckily no one was taken this time."

Wrenkit cocked her head to one side. "Humans? What are they? And why would they take us?" She questioned her father.

"Humans are strange animals. They hunt us down but don't kill us, as they take us away in large cages. Dustwing and I would have told you about humans earlier, but they haven't searched this part of the forest in quite some time. I'm sorry for the panic but our patrol had only seen them when they were only a couple of trees from your den."

Stormkit put the pieces together, and everything started to make much more sense. The secret room in the den to hide the kits in, the sudden silence in the clearing (the humans would have scared the birds and every other animal off). Although, there was one more thing Stormkit should ask. "What about the thunder in the ground?"

"The thunder in the ground?" Eagleclaw thought aloud. "That would be the Metal Beasts that humans ride in. You see, they sit inside these beasts made from the strong part of the rock called 'metal', as I was told by a travelling cat, and the beasts take them to places faster than they can walk."

The two kits were clearly confused, but they accepted this information. Wrenkit cleared her throat. "When will Stormkit and I become apprentices?" She asked her father.

The large tom purred. "You're going to have to ask Wattlestar that," Eagleclaw leaned in closer and lowered his voice, "And I don't think she has a happy face either."

Wattlestar paced the clearing, ignoring any words that Redpelt, the Clan's deputy threw at her. The small leader glanced up to Wrenkit and Stormkit who were watching her, and glared at the two, lashing her tail wildly behind her.

"No, she doesn't look that happy." Wrenkit said glumly and hung her head in disappointment. "Maybe we'll ask tomorrow." Stormkit suggested. The grey kit opened his mouth to comfort his sister when he was interrupted by another cat.

"Stormkit! Wrenkit!" Dustwing's voice echoed around the clearing as she ran up to her kits. The dusty-brown she-cat licked her kits until her tongue went dry. "You're alive!" She exclaimed in relief.

Stormkit licked Dustwing between the eyes. "Of course we made it, mother." He purred happily.

Redpelt, a muscular, dusty-red tom approached the reunion and cleared his throat. "As deputy, I send you, Eagleclaw, along with Snaketail, out on a night patrol to make sure all of the humans have left. We can't afford to have humans taking us in our sleep." The deputy grunted.

Eagleclaw sighed and followed Redpelt out of the camp with Snaketail, a brown tabby warrior, closely following behind. As the three warriors disappeared from view, Dustwing picked up Stormkit by the back of his neck and placed him on Dustwing's back. The brown she-cat picked up Wrenkit in her mouth and carried the two back to the nursery.

"Oh fox scat – you two are getting heavy!" Dustwing muttered through her teeth as she gently placed the two inside the nursery. She settled down in her bed made from moss, purring softly. "I'm sorry about yesterday. We didn't expect the humans to be back for a while."

"It's fine mother. We're all alright now." Wrenkit mewed. "It was a little scary but no one is hurt." Yawning, Wrenkit curled up by Dustwing and drifted off to sleep.

"All cats gather around Tallrock for a Clan meeting." Wattlestar's distinct voice called out. Grunting, Dustwing rose to her paws, stretching her legs out in front of her. Dustwings kits followed her out of the nursery den to the Tallrock.

The Tallrock was a large, red-brown rock situated in the camp beside the nursery. It was there where the leader of BushClan, Wattlestar would stand and address the Clan to a meeting. The current deputy, Redpelt would stand on a smaller rock about half as tall as Tallrock, as this is the second highest position in the Clan. The Warriors, Queens, Apprentices and Kits all sat around the Tallrock with Elders positioned at the front with the Medicine Cat, with the Warriors seated behind. The apprentices usually sat at the far back with the Queens and kits if they were called to attend. This arrangement was an "ancient tradition" as Redpelt had once told the kits, and "The order in which the cats sit is important. If it were to be broken, the meeting would defy our ancestors who sat in this order before us."

Stormkit and Wrenkit both made attempts to hide their excitement. This was their first Clan meeting they are attending and there was no doubt they would be both nervous and excited.

Once Wattlestar was seated at the peak of Tallrock, she addressed the Clan with her bright, golden eyes reflecting the light and colours from the early dawn. "Cats of BushClan, I would like to announce that every cat has not been injured or taken. I know that many times we have been caught unaware by humans, but we were very lucky today." The Clan cheered in agreement, including Stonefur – a pale-grey warrior who recently lost his mate to the humans only moons ago.

"Now, another reason for gathering here this morning is because two of our kits are becoming apprentices." The Clan cheered enthusiastically in excitement, yet Wattlestar's voice remained calm. "Stormkit, please stand."

Stormkit, although his legs were trembling, managed to stand shakily and held his head high in pride.

Wattlestar continued. "Stormkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on until you receive your warrior name, you will be now known as Stormpaw. Your mentor will be Eagleclaw. I hope Eagleclaw will pass down all he knows on to you.

"Eagleclaw, it is time for you to take on an apprentice once again. You have received excellent training from your former mentor, and you have shown yourself to be both strong and courageous. You will be the mentor of Stormpaw, and I expect you to pass all you know to Stormpaw." Wattlestar purred quietly as both Stormpaw and Eagleclaw touch noses. The two then sit down by the rest of the Clan, with Stormpaw in his new seat.

As the sun rose from the horizon, splashing colour through the leaves and trunks of the trees onto the clearings mossy floor, Wrenkit was appointed her apprentice name, Wrenpaw, and her new mentor – Ravenflight. Wattlestar dismissed the cats to their dens as she basked in the morning sun on the Tallrock.

"Stormkit! I mean – Stormpaw! Isn't this great? We're apprentices now! They say out mentors will show us the Clan's territory and then we begin our training tomorrow. I'm so excited!" Wrenpaw blurted to Stormpaw, clearly overwhelmed.

_I'm going to have to stuff the wax from the bee's nest in my ears when she becomes a warrior,_ Stormpaw thought to himself as his sister continued to babble about her excitement in becoming an apprentice. "Yeah, I am excited." The new apprentice admitted to his sister. Stormpaw glanced over to his father, Eagleclaw. The large brown tabby stood proudly by his mate, Dustwing. Since the Queen's kits have left the nursery, from now on Dustwing will return to the warrior den with her mate. "I just hope I don't mess anything up…." Stormkit mumbled as he remembered the fury in his father's eyes when the camp was being searched by humans.


	4. Chapter 3

Lunarwing-Hawktalon: Thank you so much for the support! ^^ And well I got the idea of having a warrior cat clan in Australia because I found it difficult trying to create a scene in a country where I've never been to. So, I moved the cats to me. XD

* * *

Ravenflight stopped running to allow his apprentice to catch her breath. "Come on Wrenpaw, you're going to have to move faster than that!" The black tom sighed as Wrenpaw panted heavily.

"I'm sorry but I'm not used to running so far." The small apprentice confessed. "The camp was only big enough for running from den to den."

The sleek-black tom sighed. This was the tom's first apprentice to mentor he was a little unsure of what to do. Remembering his training with his previous mentor, Ravenflight ran at a steady pace away from camp. "You're going to have to move faster than that then!" He taunted as he watched over his shoulder. "If you want to be a warrior, you have to be as fast as one."

Wrenpaw grunted. She wanted the warrior role so badly she completely ignored her fatigue and charged after her mentor so furiously that even Ravenflight was scared to be pounced on. "I'm not going to give up so easily!" She yelled and moved her legs faster and faster, closing the gap between her and her mentor.

Ravenflight held his steady pace, but ran towards a Eucalyptus tree, dug his long claws into the smooth trunk and hauled himself up to the highest branch. "You also need to be able to climb trees to become a warrior. Our Clan doesn't want a warrior trained to hunt captured and killed by humans!" Ravenflight shouted to Wrenpaw at the base of the tree.

"I can't climb!" Wrenpaw wailed as she remembered falling from a ledge of the Tallrock playing with Stormpaw as kits. The sudden terror of falling through the air and the pain from hitting the ground was enough to deter the young apprentice from climbing a tree. Breathing heavily, Wrenpaw sat and watched Ravenflight climb down the tree.

"I'm sorry, that was a bit much for your first training session as an apprentice." Ravenflight apologised. "I know you're tired, but we still have to show you around the territory." The sleek warrior leaped down from the tree branch to branch until his paws hit the ground. "Let's walk for now then, shall we?"

"Yeah. I think that's a good idea."

Whitefoot was busily sorting out the stash of herbs she kept in a fallen hollow tree trunk. As she turned to leave the den for some fresh air, the sky grew dark as storm clouds appeared above the camp.

"What's going on?" Wattlestar called out from across the clearing. "The air isn't right for a storm!" She yelled over the fierce wind.

The medicine cat's eyes grew very heavy and she struggled to keep them open. The white cat collapsed outside of her den, breathing heavily. Forcing her eyes open, she realised that she was in a different place. The sun wasn't intense like the summer weather the cats were experiencing at home, and the birds sung in very different tunes.

Whitefoot stood in the middle of this unusual clearing. _What is this place?_ The medicine cat thought to herself as she sniffed the flowers and to her surprise – they didn't have a scent. Frantically the shite she-cat sniffed anything in reach; other flowers, rocks and moss, but nothing smelled like anything. _Well this certainly is strange…._

A blue wren flew from a tree branch and started dancing in front of Whitefoot. In Whitefoot's experience as a medicine cat, nothing as unusual as this has happened before. Hearing a twig snap behind her a human appeared, completely ignoring the white cat which stood before it. Turning back to the wren, Whitefoot figured that the bird was taunting the human, angering it. As the human approached the small blue-wren, the human set fire to the wren somehow, and laughed as the bird flew around in panic, its wings beating furiously in attempt to extinguish the fire devouring its wings. Whitefoot however stood frozen in shock. Never had the young medicine cat seen so much in his life. In moments the forest was in flames, engulfing the small, white cat.

"Where are you taking me, father?" The small apprentice asked.

"We are exploring the territory as I had told you before, and from now on you shall address me as Eagleclaw." The muscular tabby said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, right." Stormpaw already had a lot to remember, even if he hasn't started his hunting training. Sighing, the young grey cat followed after his father as they ventured through the forest. The air was much cooler here in the shade compared to the clearing in which BushClan's camp was situated. But then Stormpaw knew that having a clan in the dense forest rather than in a clearing was an absurd idea – predators like snakes and spiders easily hid amongst the undergrowth in the forest. Stormpaw was so caught up in his thoughts he almost walked into the back of his mentor when he suddenly stopped walking.

"This here, Stormpaw," Eagleclaw began, "Is the tallest tree in the forest. It is a Karri tree – the tallest of trees. No animal can climb to the top – only birds rarely roost on its highest branches."

Stormpaw walked up to the Karri and investigated the tree. The base was blackened by some sort of fire many years ago. As the apprentice batted the black trunk charcoal fell to his paws. "Was there a fire here?" He asked Eagleclaw, but he didn't seem to have heard the apprentice speak.

"This Karri tree is roughly 10 kangaroo strides* south of the camp. I hope you've been paying attention to our surroundings as we walked here because if you have ever wandered away from camp and you can't find your way back – search for the tree and you will be able to get back quickly. Follow the sun if it is day and follow the stars if it is night to head north to camp."

Stormpaw stood back in confusion as his mentor explained all of this seemingly useless information. _With my keen nose I can find my way back with no problem!_ Stormpaw thought to himself as Eagleclaw began to walk again. Instead of travelling through the dense undergrowth, the two had found a kangaroo track where a kanagaroo had passed through, flattening half of the shrubs making it easier for cats and other animals to pass through. Eagleclaw pointed out some fresh kangaroo scat and suggested the path was made the previous night, but Stormpaw was too busily caught up in his own thoughts to care.

Eventually the mentor and apprentice stopped at a thin trail of loose rocks. The rocks reflected the light of the sun clearly, and when Stormpaw observed the shiny rocks he noticed that a thin stream of water coated the rocky path. As the apprentice peered closer, he saw a few small fish far too small to eat swimming through the nearly non-existent stream. "Is this the creek every cat drinks from?" Stormpaw asked his mentor; only this time he replied with an answer.

"Yes, this is the Clan's fresh supply of water. During droughts this river runs dry and we sometimes have to drink the dew collected on the moss in the morning."

"Ah okay." Said Stormpaw – not really paying any attention. _I want to learn how to hunt and catch prey for my Clan to eat!_ The apprentice thought as he and his mentor continued their trek throughout the forest.

* * *

* on average, a stride from a kangaroo is equivalent to 10 to 13 metres. (roughly 40 feet)


End file.
